80 replies to this topic

[BillyWhizz]

Thought this might have been up and running already, but it would seem not.

 

F1 in all of its pageantry rolled into Sochi this week and would prove to be the setting for Mercedes' first ever F1 World Constructor's Chamionship.

 

Sochi will no doubt hold a special place in the history of Mercedes and they're all going to be very happy tonight, but were you?

 

Thoughts on the Russian Grand Prix please.

 

Best Driver
Worst Driver
Best Team
Best Overtake
Best Moment
DRS + Tyres

And the race in a few words.

[Codeso87]

Very bad, 2.

 

Best driver Bottas

Worst driver no idea.

Best team Mercedes

Best overtake first lap with the 4 Red Bulls going crazy

Best moment Putin on Tv. Joke!

Tyres way too hard again, DRS useless in this terrible track

[Cyanide]

Worst race after Singapore. 

[TheFish]

Decent enough, just needs much softer tyres next year. It was like a Bridgestone race.

[Kobasmashi]

I gave it a 4.

 

Best Driver: Hamilton for me, was in complete control all weekend
Worst Driver: Hard to say. I'm leaning towards Massa for getting stuck behind Perez in a faster car, but then again I don't know if he still had problems left over from quali.
Best Team: Mercedes or McLaren
Best Overtake: Vergne vs Magnussen through turn 3, that was balls-to-the-wall stuff
Best Moment: The run down into turn 2&3 on the first lap
DRS + Tyres: DRS meh, tyres extremely hard but you can understand why Pirelli erred on the side of caution heading to a brand new circuit.

[Emilvang]

Best Driver - The McLaren boys.
Worst Driver - Considering his brilliant Q, Kvyat was really disappointing. Nobody stood out as terrible though.
Best Team - Mercedes, of course.
Best Overtake - We weren't shown many, were we? Kevin vs Vergne, I guess.
Best Moment - Red Bull train was a bit funny.
DRS + Tyres - Tyres were way too good.

 

I give it a 2, that was one boring race.

Edited by Emilvang, 12 October 2014 - 16:42.

[rmpugh]

Was there actually a race? This was one of the rare GP's where the podium ceremony was more interesting than the entire race distance. I am trying to remember a race as dull as this, and the only thing I can come up with after lap 1 is Indy 2005. At least that had political arguments to redeem it though. 

[The Kanisteri]

Best Driver

Lewis Hamilton
Worst Driver

-
Best Team

Mercedes
Best Overtake

-
Best Moment

Valtteri Bottas' fastest lap on very last lap (my biased opinion as a Finn)
DRS + Tyres

Pirelli's tyre choise didn't pay out well. Both combounds would have lasted race or two at Sotchi track.

And the race in a few words.

Average GP was Nationalsosialistic Russian Federation's big PR win. Putin-camera made me to miss Erja-camera from Mika Häkkinen's McLaren times very much.

 

Voted 5 of 10

Edited by The Kanisteri, 12 October 2014 - 17:08.

[SR388]

Best Driver - the hammer
Worst Driver - bottas, kid needed to take the fight to Nico and didn't.
Best Team - Merc
Best Overtake - no idea
Best Moment - when Lewis won and I was happy
DRS + tires - I wish I had tires that durable for my road cars.


And the race in a few words. - mostly dull, but I will take three more just like it.

[Nonesuch]

Rated it a generous 5/10.

Best Driver: Bottas was very solid.
Worst Driver: Kvyat was disappointing, but worst is a bit rough.
Best Team: Mercedes, in terms of performance anyway. McLaren was pretty good, too.
Best Overtake: Vergne around turn 3 is the most obvious candidate.
Best Moment: That there were no safety cars. This track seemed destined to have a SC phase, but thankfully the race could play out as intended.
DRS + Tyres: DRS is silly, and the tyres were quite hard. That wouldn't be too bad if the cars weren't limited in other areas, though. But under the current circumstances it made for a rather stagnant race.
And the race in a few words: Decent first race, considering the uncertainty on the part of both Pirelli and the teams. The track itself seems decent enough, certainly compared to other recent additions to the calender, but it's no Suzuka or Spa-Francorchamps.

Edited by Nonesuch, 12 October 2014 - 17:10.

[Massa_f1]

3/10

 

Not a very good race at all. Rubbish really, just like Singapore was.

 

Good to see Jenson have a strong race though.

[Ricardo F1]

Not usually one to be bored stiff, but that was bad.  Pirelli's choice of tyres in the end was so ridiculously conservative that it just made it a total non-event.  With soft/super-super soft next year I think it could actually provide some decent racing.

 

Best Driver: Hamiton ; majestic really, his concentration at turn one was epic - could've panicked, made it look like a Sunday drive.
Worst Driver: Kvyat was disappointing.  Yeah, need to hear what happened there but 5th to 14th ain't great.  I'll second Rosberg here simply because of turn one ruined any race we may have had!!
Best Team: Mercedes and McLaren both did great.
Best Overtake: Um, yeah.
Best Moment: The end.
DRS + Tyres: Tyre compounds ruined the chance of a race unfortunately.
And the race in a few words : + 7

[Ferrari_F1_fan_2001]

Meh

just a bigger Valencia IMO

[TimRTC]

Having watched some of the supports, I think the track has good potential, but was let down by the tyre choices and the lack of enthusiasm of many drivers to push for some reason.

[F1matt]

One of the most tedious events I have ever watched. At one point I turned over to see the BTCC but the adverts were on, ashamedly I left the adverts on because it was more interesting than the F1.

[Gorma]

Worst Driver - bottas, kid needed to take the fight to Nico and didn't.
 

WTF? That's dumbest thing I've heard today. 

[Disgrace]

The quality of the race had nothing to do with the tyre compounds used. Alonso, Magnussen and Toro Rosso have all explained that fuel saving was rather exceptional here. We also heard fuel was critical for Perez during the race. They probably didn't help themselves by short-filling in the expectation of a safety car, and probably didn't have great data due to the new surface.

 

By contrast, we heard Rosberg explaining on the radio that the tyres were "easy" to race on, and Button praised them for representing a return to "old" style racing. I applaud Pirelli for their conservative approach after last year's debacle where you could argue, with conviction, that they single-handedly ruined the entire championship. 

 

We need more races with tyres like these, but it's no good if the teams can't put themselves in a position to exploit them.

[darkkis]

Worst Driver - bottas, kid needed to take the fight to Nico and didn't.
 

******** Hamilton fans been repeating this utter nonsense.. How come you didn't see how much extra pace Mercedes had compared to Williams..?

 

3/10 maybe the most boring race this season(?). Kinda funny how Lauda and someone else (forgot already who) hyped that there WILL be a safety car at some point. Well... Actually better we didn't, because it probably would have been even more tedious watching SC phase taking ages.

 

DRS + Tyres: DRS didn't have big role, tyres were maybe too conservative? Fuel saving was too much anyways.

 

Best Moment: Bottas fast lap on final lap.. Tells much about the entertainment value.

 

And the race in a few words: Boring. Putin got too much cringeworthy air time.

Edited by darkkis, 12 October 2014 - 17:40.

[SR388]

WTF? That's dumbest thing I've heard today.

Well if you can't be smart, might as well be memorable.

[Jamiednm]

Worst race of the year, easily. Awful race track, even traffic wasn't a factor. I very rarely complain about a boring track or race as I still usually find interest generally in watching F1 Grands Prix, but this circuit is very poor and needs to be dropped. It has no redeeming features.

 

I have to say though, that W05 is the most dominant car I have ever seen. Absolutely incredible.

Edited by Jamiednm, 12 October 2014 - 17:51.

[Cyanide]

If you want to effectively torture somebody, strap them into a chair and make them watch a 20-hour loop of the 2014 Singapore and Russian GPs. 

[muelte]

Worst race in ages... First time I saw the track on TV I said "looks similar to Valencia". Sadly, racing is as poor or even worse as it was there.

 

Absolute borefest

[f1RacingForever]

😁 who voted 10. I hope it was a joke. Boring circuit dull race. Voted 3

[SophieB]

who voted 10...

[f1RacingForever]

who voted 10...

Putin making multiple accounts? Haha

[weareracing]

What a travesty for the Russian spectators who paid money to watch this procession.

Worst race of the year by a country mile.

I voted 2, other than Rosberg's recovery and Perez defending from Massa it was a snooze-fest.

And I sincerely hope that the pre and post race political propaganda that took place today will NOT be repeated at other venues.

The cult of personality, not impressed.  

[GoldenColt]

 

[Longtimefan]

1/10 worst race of the year by far. Incredibly dull and boring.

I can only think people voted 10 as a joke. Even if I was a Hamilton fan I would have found that race dull and couldn't give it close to 10/10.

[Afterburner]

The highlight of the race was listening to the broadcasters on NBC discuss the relative abrasiveness of their kitchen countertops. That should tell you all you need to know.

[SR388]

For the record, I gave the race a 5.

[GoldenColt]

Race: 2/10 and that's very generous.

 

Best driver: Bottas

Worst driver: Kvyat. Seems like he couldn't cope with the pressure.

Best Team: Mercedes obviously.

Best overtake: -

Best moment: Rosberg locking up.

DRS+tyres: Tyres tad too conservative, DRS too powerful.

And the race in a few words: I can't think of few words to describe this race. It was pretty boring.

[HoldenRT]

After last week, maybe a boring race was just what F1 needed.

[Masteroftheuniverse]

I gave it a 2, and can't be bothered to do ratings for people

[TomNokoe]

Gave a 4.

[northanmonkee2]

dont think race would have been  exiting even if it was supersoft and soft ,

not from circuit which isnt as bad as most tilke dromes  but the 

tarmac that was laid down was not abrasive enough to degrade any tyre 

not even 2013 cheese tyres , one stop races are nearly always boring 

add to that no saftey car ,this race was like most of last years flyaways 

with 1 car heading off into the distance  untroubled .

Best Driver hamilton
Worst Driver no one really bad  but kimi was again annonymous 
Best Team merc
Best Overtake only one i can remember was  verne on a mac round turn 3 
Best Moment   ist lap turn 2 
DRS + Tyres drs  meh 

[DanardiF1]

Gave it a three... there was nothing much wrong with it, it was just very dull. I think the leading cars were just running too well (those radio messages of Lewis/Valterri/Jenson all going 'the car's great!' summed up this race)... I'm not wanting cars to struggle, but with everyone at the front enjoying their car setup it suggested they'd all reached their performance limit and no gaps could be bridged.

 

Best Driver -   Hard to choose between any of the top 4 really (other than Rosberg who got away with his error through having the best car by a mile), so I'll nominate Hamilton, Bottas and Button equally. These 3 over the weekend were just better than the rest.  
Worst Driver - Kvyat was awful. He's pretty scruffy anyway but today he was just all over the place regardless of what problems Toro Rosso had with fuel etc. His first laps alone were enough to nominate him really as he was trying to put his elbows out with no idea of what was going on around him.
Best Team - Mercedes got the car perfect as usual, and McLaren deserve mention for their continued upturn in performance.
Best Overtake - Vergne on the outside of turn 3.
Best Moment - Lewis looking through the caps on the table post-race and just chucking them back down... that was how boring this race was.
DRS + Tyres - DRS didn't really do anything, the cars were gapped by the rest of the circuit so much that they were often too far apart on the straights. The tyres were just too good and made for a Bridgestone procession... 

[SenorSjon]

A 2
The fuel saving ment everyone was sticking around 1.43 laps almost whole race, while in Q we had 1.38. Please, stop this fuel economy run. We have had a few of these fuel saving races already.

The tires were never tested strolling 5-6 seconds of the pace. I wonder if they could manage 50 laps on edge.

Massa was tedious in not being able to follow Rosberg.

The track has virtually no real overtake points. Only med speed 90 degree turns.

Edited by SenorSjon, 12 October 2014 - 19:04.

[sabjit]

Gave it a 6, but tbh, I rarely give anything below a 6 because I'm the kind of guy that likes to watch cars go round for 2 hours. That's why I watch practice.

[P123]

Best Driver - Tough one as nobody stood out..... Hamilton was cruising, easy Sunday drive so it goes to him.
Worst Driver - Massa
Best Team - Mercedes
Best Overtake - Some battling around turn 3- great corner. Probably one of those. DRS again spoiled things a little on the main straight.
Best Moment - End of the race, nothing memorable about it
DRS + tires - Tyres were fine, but I'm sure Pirelli will come with softer compounds next season. DRS an abomination.

Race- 3/10. Worst of the season.

[30ft penguin]

Most boring race this season so far. Gave it a 3/10 (1/10 and 2/10 are reserved for really outrageous or horrible stuff, like Hamilton kicking some puppies live on camera, or David Hasselhoff singing the national anthem).

 

Really though, this was one of those races during which you ask yourself "why am I even watching this, the home shopping channel is more exciting".

[Mat13]

3, generously.
Best Driver- Hamilton.
Worst driver- Rosberg, for ruining what race there may have been.
Best team- Mercedes.
Best overtake- Vergne on Magnussen.
Best moment- The start, always love it.
DRS and Tyres- DRS a little weak, tyres could have been much worse...

[redraven9]

Best Driver - Bottas, Alonso, Jenson, Hamilton were all really good
Worst driver - Kvyat, I think
Best team - Mercedes
Best overtake - Alo overtaking two cars at the start
Best moment - The spar between the Red Bull cars in the start
DRS and Tyres- Tyres were too durable

[GAZF1nut]

4/10

 

Best Driver: Hamilton
Worst Driver: Massa
Best Team: Mercedes
Best Overtake: Rosberg on Bottas
Best Moment: Hamilton winning
DRS + Tyres: Tyres were far too conservative.

[Rob]

Struggling to think of a redeeming feature for this race. It was really dull.

[Exb]

Gave it a 4 (my lowest ever score )

 

Best Driver - Lewis, Jenson and Fernando stand out as having made no mistakes and comfortably beating their team-mates.
Worst Driver - difficult as no-one was really bad. Nico made 1 bad error but recovered well enough, Bad start from Dan probably cost him positions at the end but it was hardly a bad drive, so I will be generous and go with no-one this weekend.
Best Team - Mercedes (by a mile)
Best Overtake - JEV re-passing Magnussen around the outside at turn 3
Best Moment - ummm - turn 3? (is a pretty good corner as it turns out )
DRS + Tyres Tyres lasted all day, DRS - was it in use? totally ineffective.

And the race in a few words. Won't be remembered as a classic. It was a weekend where the race took a back seat - Mercedes (very deservedly) were crowned constructors champions and the entire weekend was overshadowed by the sad events of the previous race with everyone wishing for some positive news about Jules.

 

Edited by Exb, 12 October 2014 - 20:15.

[Jon83]

I was happy to see a race which wasn't all about tyres. 

 

But the track is as dull as it gets. 

[SpartanChas]

I rated it at 3, only memorable moment was Rosberg throwing away any chance right at the start.

 

I don't want to think about this race any more than that.

[bourbon]

Best Driver - Rosberg - awesome recovery.  Course there is the fact he had to recover in the first place - but 52 L on those tyres and P2 in the end - good stuff
Worst Driver - None
Best Team - Mercedes
Best Overtake -  Well it wasn't strictly an overtake, but seeing the 4 Red Bull cars together, with no team orders in effect, was probably the funniest thing I've ever witnessed.  A number of passes happened and they sorted it without crashing, so good stuff (although Kvyat did cause Dan to get a clunk).
Best Moment -  RBR denying the explicit team order in the first stint.  Small victory for racing.
DRS + Tyres  Tyres may as well have been Bridgestones.

The race in a few words:  Lewis won the first ever Russian GP!

[chipmcdonald]

I think it was as good as any race this year, we're just not seeing goofball results because of tire issues.   It was refreshing not to hear ".... and then my tires went off" in interviews.

 

Ricciardo after Vettel was good, Vergne's pass obviously, Perez battling off people, Magnussen trying to hold off Vergne... a number of bits of dicing.   The only thing missing was the redundant "passing" as tire strategies overlap before everyone's last pitstop.

[santori]

I only kept haf an eye on it but:

 

Best Driver Hamilton, maybe. Or Button, Bottas, Alonso. Rosberg after his mistake.
Worst Driver None stood out
Best Team Mercedes
Best Overtake Vergne/Magnussen
Best Moment Vergne/Magnussen
DRS + Tyres Fine I suppose

And the race in a few words. Before the race I thought it was wrong for moral reasons; after the race I think it was wrong for sporting reasons, too.

Edited by santori, 12 October 2014 - 22:18.